U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia scheduled a telephone conference Aug. 30 at 2:30 p.m. EDT to discuss “the next steps” in Comcast Spectacor’s litigation against Factory Mutual Insurance, said a signed notice Wednesday (docket 2:23-cv-02476). Bartle on Aug. 10 denied Spectacor’s motion to consolidate its case against Factory Mutual with two earlier-filed lawsuits under a single judge (see 2308140009). Philadelphia Flyers owner Spectacor alleges Factory Mutual refuses to honor the terms of the property insurance policy the team bought to protect against the type of “catastrophic loss” it suffered when its games were canceled or curtailed at the Wells Fargo Center in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 (see 2306290001).

An upstate New York home fire was caused by a battery bought on Amazon by a customer of Homesite Insurance, alleges a July complaint (docket 6:23-cv-00981) removed by Amazon Friday from the New York Supreme Court to U.S. District Court for Northern New York in Oneida. Plaintiff Homesite, as subrogee of its homeowner customer Adam Long, alleges a First Power replacement battery that was delivered by Amazon was defective, “not fit for its intended purposes,” caused a fire at Long’s home in September and had an “unreasonable risk of causing a fire.” Upon information and belief, the plaintiff seeks recovery of damages of at least $356,644, said Amazon’s notice of removal. An Amazon spokesperson said Tuesday the company doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

Plaintiff Stacy Barrus’ vicarious liability claims against Meta because his Facebook and Instagram accounts were hacked and prevented him from gaining access to those accounts (see 2306210020) should be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, said Meta’s motion Friday (docket 5:23-cv-00776) in U.S. District Court for Western Texas in San Antonio. The case also should be dismissed because the parties agreed to resolve all disputes in arbitration, and “otherwise in California,” it said. The theories asserted against Meta also “have no merit,” it said. The “entire basis” of this case, Barrus’ inability to access his Meta accounts, “has now been fully resolved,” it said. Barrus promised to dismiss this case in full and with prejudice “if two conditions were met,” it said. Both of those conditions have been met, yet Barrus hasn’t dismissed the case, it said.

U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia denied the motion of Comcast Spectacor to consolidate its case against Factory Mutual Insurance with two earlier-filed lawsuits under a single judge, said Bartle’s signed order Thursday (docket 2:23-cv-02476). Philadelphia Flyers owner Spectacor alleges Factory Mutual refuses to honor the terms of the property insurance policy the team bought to protect against the type of “catastrophic loss” it had when its games were canceled or curtailed at the Wells Fargo Center in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 (see 2306290001). That the plaintiffs in all three cases “are separate Philadelphia professional sports organizations does not make the cases related,” nor does the fact that both the Flyers and the Philadelphia Eagles are suing the same insurer, said Bartle’s memorandum in support of the order. “Suits against insurers for coverage for COVID-19 associated losses are not uncommon in this district,” it said. “The material policy language in issue is often the same or similar,” it said. But the actions “must involve the same transaction or occurrence” for those cases to be related, it said. “The impact of a nationwide pandemic in each case does not constitute a common transaction or occurrence,” it said. “It would distort the random assignment process if all COVID-19 cases by different plaintiffs against insurers for lost profits or even those COVID-19 cases against the same insurer with similar policies are to be assigned to the same judge as related,” it said.

An in-person hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Google and YouTube (see 2308100056) is set for Wednesday at 11 a.m. PDT before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins for Northern California in San Francisco, said a TRO hearing notice Thursday (docket 5:23-cv-03880). Kennedy sued Google Aug. 2 in a First Amendment lawsuit alleging a “censorship campaign” over his comments on COVID-19 and other vaccines (see [Ref:2308030049). The Democratic presidential candidate seeks a TRO to stop YouTube from using its “’medical misinformation’ policies” to remove videos of Kennedy’s speeches "on matters of public concern” during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Contrary to the opposition of defendant Factory Mutual Insurance to plaintiff Comcast Spectacor’s July 4 motion to reassign the lawsuit so it can be related to two other COVID-19 insurance cases, Spectacor said “relatedness does not require the moving party to show that a new case and a prior filed case involve identical parties.” Spectacor filed its omibus reply Thursday (docket 2:23-cv-02476) in further support of its motion for reassignment to U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Flyers owner Spectacor alleges in its June 28 complaint that Factory Mutual refuses to honor the terms of the property insurance policy the team bought to protect against the type of “catastrophic loss” it incurred when its games were canceled or curtailed at the Wells Fargo Center in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2306290001). One of the related cases before Baylson’s court was brought against Factory Mutual by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recognizes that cases are related under Local Rule 40.1 when they share a “core of similarity,” and the underlying claims are based on the same “central events,” said Spectacor. When those principles “are applied to the circumstances presented here,” there “should be no doubt” that the Flyers action is related to the earlier-filed Eagles action, it said. Factory Mutual would have the court believe that nothing “would warrant having these two cases assigned to a single judge, when multiple other COVID coverage cases have been heard by multiple judges” in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. But these cases “share a unique core of similarity that should weigh heavily in favor” of granting the Flyers’ reassignment motion, it said. Both actions are asserted “by major league sports teams against an identical insurance company defendant, Factory Mutual, and both seek to enforce identical and unique insurance policy language,” it said.

Los Angeles County calculated, levied and collected property taxes from T-Mobile West, Sprint Spectrum and CenturyLink in a way that violates the California Constitution, alleged a Friday complaint (docket 23ST-cv-18506) in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Property assessed by the State Board of Equalization under the California Constitution is deemed “state-assessed property,” said the complaint; claimants are privately held utilities whose property value is assessed by the BOE Jan. 1 of each year. The average rate in L.A. County was 1.169% in 2021, but the county levied a property tax of 1.197% on claimants’ state-assessed property that year and 1.193% in 2022, in violation of the constitution, it said. Claimants request partial refunds for T-Mobile of $163,429 for 2021 and $140,587 for 2022; $36,941 for Sprint in 2021 and $6,385 in 2022; and $32,938 for CenturyLink in 2021 and $30,548 in 2022, plus interest.

The case in which private equity firm Legacy Equity Advisors accuses AT&T of not viewing it as a serious or qualified buyer for AT&T’s divested assets because of its African American ownership and management “is a prime example of racial discrimination in contracting” that Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act “was intended to eradicate,” said Legacy’s opposition Monday (docket 3:23-cv-00979) in U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in Dallas to AT&T’s July 17 motion to dismiss (see 2307180002). In trying to “detract” from Legacy’s allegations, AT&T’s motion “makes a series of arguments contrary to” 5th Circuit precedent, said the opposition. Legacy alleges AT&T shut it out from bidding on Cricket Wireless, “only further evincing AT&T’s discriminatory intent,” it said. “The refusal to allow a bid, if on account of race, is a violation of Section 1981,” it said. AT&T contends Legacy’s complaint is time-barred, it said. But a court “may not dismiss a complaint based on the statute of limitations, unless it is evident from the plaintiff's pleadings that the action is time-barred, and the pleadings fail to raise some basis for tolling,” it said. Here, the complaint isn’t time-barred based on the allegations that Legacy didn’t know, and didn’t have reason to know, of AT&T’s “discriminatory motive” until March 2022, it said.

Karen Caldwell, chair of the U.S. Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), granted plaintiffs Dean and Michelle Nasca’s motion to vacate conditional transfer order CTO-7, said a Thursday order (docket 3047) in Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation. The Nascas’ case against TikTok involved questions of fact common to the actions previously transferred to the Northern District of California and assigned to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, the CTO said. Defendants TikTok and parent company ByteDance opposed the Nascas' motion (see 2308030056). Caldwell’s order follows the recommendation of Magistrate Judge James Wicks last month (see 2307280056) that the court should decline to adopt and apply the doctrine of fraudulent misjoinder in the case. The Nascas’ 16-year-old son, Chase, rode his bike to a railroad intersection in February 2022 in Bayport, New York, walked through an unfenced portion of train tracks and was hit by a Long Island Railroad (LIRR) train after texting a friend, “I’m gonna go.” His parents accessed his TikTok account on his phone after his death and found “thousands” of videos with “highly depressive, violent, self-harm, and suicidal themes accompanied with dark and depressing music,” said the Nascas’ memorandum in support of their motion to vacate. On May 11, 2022, they filed a pro se notice of claim against the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), the LIRR and the town of Islip, New York, alleging the MTA had knowledge of “disproportionate occurrences” of LIRR trains striking pedestrians and vehicles in that portion of track “but failed to take any actions to mitigate or prevent future collisions.” They retained a law firm to prosecute a claim against social media companies and filed a liability claim against TikTok and ByteDance in U.S. District Court in Northern California in October. Plaintiffs don't dispute that their action and the actions in MDL No. 3047 share common factual questions but argue the JPML should allow the Eastern District of New York to rule on their pending motion for remand to state court, said Caldwell's order. She noted the panel said jurisdictional objections generally don’t present an impediment to transfer but cited Wicks’ July 27 recommendation and said it’s “most efficient to allow the Eastern District of New York to review the recommendation and any objections defendants file.” If the Nasca case remains in federal court once all proceedings involving the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation are concluded, “the parties can notify the Panel at that time.”

TikTok filed a “clarification” Tuesday, responding (docket 3047) to plaintiffs’ notice of supplemental information in a negligence MDL that also names Meta, Google and Snap. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Wicks recommended last week (see 2307280056) that the U.S. District Court for Eastern New York remand Nasca v. ByteDance to Suffolk County Supreme Court. Plaintiffs’ Dean and Michelle Nasca, whose son died after being hit by a Long Island Railroad (LIRR) train after the youth was fed numerous suicide-by-train videos on TikTok, said the case should be remanded from Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation because TikTok “failed to establish complete diversity since there was no fraudulent misjoinder.” Wicks recommended the court decline to adopt and apply the doctrine of fraudulent misjoinder in the case, saying the claims against both the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the LIRR, and TikTok “are inextricably linked to Chase Nasca’s death.” Common questions of law and fact “exist as to all Defendants in this case,” Wicks said. In its response, TikTok said neither the Nasca’s notice nor Wicks’ recommendations affect the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s (JPML) jurisdiction and right to rule on transfer. The JPML “already heard the issue of transfer” July 27 “and previously has rejected similar requests to oppose/delay transfer” in the MDL, it said. The magistrate’s recommendations aren’t final because defendants have until Aug. 10 to file objections, “which they intend to do,” and those objections will be heard and considered by the district court before any final ruling, said the response. “This non-final status and indeterminate timing in EDNY is further reason for the JPML to transfer to the MDL court, which is better positioned to opine on ‘common questions of fact’ as to its own MDL and issue consistent decisions rather than piecemeal rulings in individual courts,” it said.